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“I wish it was that easy.”
“Yeah,” she said, sharing a sad smile with him. “Me, too.” And then, softly, “I’m sorry, Michael. I never meant...”
“Shhh.” He placed a finger on her lips. “I know.”
She cradled her stomach, loving the babies too much to feel that having them was wrong. And yet...
“So what are we going to tell my parents?”
As much as she wanted to go home with Michael, to be welcomed into that fold, she knew she couldn’t. “We don’t have to tell them anything yet, do we?” she asked. “At least until the babies are born.”
She had to give Michael all the time she could, all the freedom she could, to determine for himself what part he’d play in their lives.
“My mother and sisters would have a shower for you.”
She would have loved every minute of it, too. “I’ll have just as much fun picking everything out on my own,” she said instead.
“But they’d love to do that, and more. To share in the anticipation of the coming babies. My mom would start sewing immediately. And bragging.”
“Michael.” She stepped closer to him, running her fingers through his hair. “You aren’t responsible for everyone’s happiness, you know,” she said. “Yes, they’d probably like knowing right now, but it’s not going to kill them if they don’t. You need to think of yourself.”
“Seems to me that’s all I’ve been doing since this whole thing began. Probably before that, too.”
“No more than anyone else,” she told him adamantly, “and less than most.”
He said nothing, just walked with her as she headed toward a shower. “You’ve spent your entire career listening to your customers, making sure you give them only what they need, not what it would most benefit you to sell them. They come away from transactions with you feeling cared for, not used.”
“That’s just—”
“And what about Bobbie Jayne?” she interrupted. “Every time that child needs a bandage, you’re there, not only paying for it, but making sure it’s properly applied.”
He propped his shoulder against the door of the bathroom. “She doesn’t ask for much.”
“That’s not the point.” She pushed off her tennis shoes and socks. “The point is, you care, and you help, every single time she calls. And what about Melanie Dryson?”
“What about her?” A sexy half grin lingered on his face as he watched her strip down, piece by sweaty piece.
“You stuck your nose out more than once to see that she got the promotions and the credit she deserved.”
Completely naked, Susan stepped into the shower, pulling the curtain behind her.
The water, once it warmed, felt wonderful on her skin, soothing muscles that were already tired so early in the day.
“How ’bout I give you something you deserve, stripping like that so delicately right in front of me?”
Opening her eyes, Susan saw Michael standing in the shower with her, utterly gorgeous in his masculine perfection. Utterly naked. And wanting her.
“How ’bout it?” she asked him.
He proceeded to do that very well. And if there was a hint of desperation in their lovemaking these days, she tried very hard not to notice.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“CAN I ASK YOU something?” Susan asked later, watching as he brushed his wet hair into some semblance of order.
“Of course.”
“These past three years, before I got pregnant, were you happy?”
